“It makes me wonder what we will ask them in the national final” exclaimed quizmaster Pickbrain aptly describing the extremely high levels of quizzing one witnessed at Chennai. A very tough prelim, with shouts of “No Clues Please” from the teams set the stage for a competitive afternoon of quizzing among 700 plus teams.

The final started with SRD blazing away to a powerful start stunning the opponents with their aggressive intent and strong preparation. It took a few minutes for the other teams to regroup their thoughts to counter SRD.

As the rounds moved from one to the other, the teams started closing in and playing it by the round. SBOA, Bhavan’s, Hindu Sr. and Shankara all scoring in bursts, to stay in the hunt. From these, Bala Vidyamandir seemed a shade sharper as they went about it in a more clinical manner gathering points in each round.

In the buzzer rounds, the SRD duo chose to play safe and did not take any chances, allowing the others to inch closer. As the final rounds arrived, the Bala Vidymandir duo kept pegging and were barely five points behind SRD, one could feel the tension in the auditorium and on the faces of these young quizzers.

The final question was the decider which Bala Vidyamandir missed and SRD sailed into the national final, largely powered by the work they had done in the first couple of rounds. It was a strategy that worked for them to unsettle the opponents early on and then play a wait and watch game. The quiz itself was based on gaming, with rounds inspired by popular games and powered by ‘India’s first animation based quizzing software’ created by Bangalore based Blackboard Animations.

Quotes @ Chennai

Mr. Ravi Vishwanathan, Head of TCS Chennai and President Emerging Markets “Happy to not be born with such bright kids, but was equally happy to see such sharp minds who will shape the future of this country”.

Champions, SRDFVV - Navin Sridhar and Saiprasath

Runner Up, Bala Vidya Mandir - Rishi Rajasekaran and Vishal K

The guest of honour Mr. Ravi Vishwanathan, Head of TCS Chennai and President Emerging Markets applauded the youngsters and remarked humorously that he was “Happy to not be born with such bright kids, but was equally happy to see such sharp minds who will shape the future of this country”.